tom tom or garmin

[+JohnnyVegas]

I have been back in school for fives years and have not kept up with what's new in car GPS units. I am going start caching a lot again. Looking for a Tom Tom or Garmin that will take files from gsak. I do not want a hand held, been there done that. Besides I already have a Mag. 710

That I use now when on foot. While the Mag 710 does street navigation it is a PITA to use for that

Edited June 14, 2013 by JohnnyVegas

[insig]

I have been back in school for fives years and have not kept up with what's new in car GPS units. I am going start caching a lot again. Looking for a Tom Tom or Garmin that will take files from gsak. I do not want a hand held, been there done that. Besides I already have a Mag. 710

That I use now when on foot. While the Mag 710 does street navigation it is a PITA to use for that

 

Look at the Garmin Montana. It can act like a nuvi in the car, and you can put it in an automotive mount that speak directions to you. Pop it out of the mount, and it acts like a handheld.

Edited June 14, 2013 by insig

[insig]

And it costs an arm and 2 legs :laughing:

 

Yep, but having Darth Vader tell me where the next cache is makes it all worth it

Edited June 14, 2013 by insig

[+Bear and Ragged]

TomTom.

GSAK and a nice little macro by Big Wolf.

[vagabond]

Garmin with lifetime maps and traffic

[+JohnnyVegas]

I have been back in school for fives years and have not kept up with what's new in car GPS units. I am going start caching a lot again. Looking for a Tom Tom or Garmin that will take files from gsak. I do not want a hand held, been there done that. Besides I already have a Mag. 710

That I use now when on foot. While the Mag 710 does street navigation it is a PITA to use for that

 

Look at the Garmin Montana. It can act like a nuvi in the car, and you can put it in an automotive mount that speak directions to you. Pop it out of the mount, and it acts like a handheld.

thanks but I do jot need a hand held, I have 6 of those now. But I will look at some Nuvis

[+ecanderson]

@JohnnyVegas

 

Whether a Garmin or TomTom is better suited to your needs depends upon how you'll be using it. If you want free maps, go with Garmin. If you want your route planned and modified en route with real-time traffic, you'll need the TomTom (a Live model like the GO 1535TM). These two companies offer entirely different benefits, and your choice needs to match your use model. All you've told us is that you'll be caching with it. Both brands are fully capable of that. It's what else you may be doing that can matter a great deal, though I've had the TomTom HD Traffic keep me out of some real messes even when caching.

 

Map quality also varies between the two companies. One will do a better job of keeping up in one area, and the other company a different area. Since we don't know where you are (are you still in the Western US or have you moved elsewhere now that you're out of school?), it's hard to suggest which might be your case.

 

Don't buy by brand, buy by the bang-for-the-buck for YOUR application. Give us a hand and tell us what features are important to you, or at least what kind of driving you'll be doing other than caching.

[+ecanderson]

Garmin used to use live OTA traffic via cellular technology (nüLink!) but gave up on it (e.g., the 1690). They are now back to using only RDS-TMC for traffic.

 

TomTom also makes the RDS-TMC solution available, but it doesn't hold a candle to their Live service (which is the TomTom version of nüLink!) when it comes to the amount of territory covered, update frequency, and accuracy.